Zeke was at the record store planning on reserving a copy of the new R.E.M. album. Exhausted from the work in his small lab/studio apartment. He had moved to Cape Breton Island in his desperate attempt to better understand magic six months ago. And he had been loving every second of it everywhere he looked there were people manipulating light with their minds and communing with wildlife and plants. So here he was in a record store and there in front of him was a fae clear as day. The first one he has ever seen and he was elated. Suddenly he was a lot warmer in the cold air of the island. His heart was racing and his cheeks were a flush red. They were tall and wearing horns and a long leafen cape. They were trying to figure out how to use the music samplers that were dotted along the walls of the store. Hunched over the stack of tapes struggling to open a case and insert it. It was humbling and yet they somehow managed to retain their regality. Zeke took a deep breath his minding realing thinking of all of the different knowledge he could attain from this fae. He had never met a fae before and was overwhelmed with the possibilities. He Took another deep breath and than a cautious step forward. Another step and another. His whole body shaking, he opened his mouth, “Need a little help.” “Oh thank the gods, someone that works here.” The fae responded jubilantly. “I cannot seem to get this infernal contraption to make music, but I want to hear it all.” “Oh I, I, don’t work here but I am an engineer of sorts so I can help you out when it comes to machinery.” Zeke responded taking the tape from the Fae and putting it into the tape deck. “My name is Zeke by the way.” “Thank you engineer Zeke, my name is Luradin. Now, where does the sound come from.” Luradin inquired. Zeke handed him the headphones hanging from the wall, “Put these over your ears and hit play.” Luradin put the headphones on and then looked confused at the center console. Zeke pressed play for him. Zeke than helped the fae listen to cassette after cassette trying to pump any info about the fae world he could out Luradin. Zeke learned that Luradin got his money from rigging the casino, and that he was so old he barely bothered to count anymore. Most of their conversation was about music and how Luradin loved every genre and artist but he was also incredibly critical. They, were fascinated by the grunge movement that seemed to be everywhere on Cape Breton Island. Luradin talked about there fear of deforestation and how important the trees were to the fae. Which explained why the forests were so plush and you never saw a chainsaw on the island. Zeke was particularly giddy when Luradin used some light magic to look over a shelf of records that laid in the darker end of the store. Before he knew it Zeke had spent the whole day listening to music with Luradin, only to realize he had only learned a few fragments worth of small talk about how magic and the fae works. He gussied up a little more courage and asserted himself, “So how does it work?” “Well, engineer you should no better of this process than I.” Luradin responded. “But I imagine it is either some sort of magic or scientific method in order to trap the music in these little boxes for later replication.” “No not the tapes, The Magic how does magic work?” Zeke said desperation in his voice. “Where does it come from how do you perform it, why do some people have it and others do not?” “Oh I see,” Luradin said, taking a deep breath and than a long pause. The loud bustling record shop was suddenly full of an awkward silence. “You are not from the island, are you?” “No, I’m not, I have only been here for a few months, why?” Zeke responded defeat over taking his voice. “Than you can never understand, unless you are from another place rich in magic. Are you from another place rich in magic?” Luradin raised an eyebrow. “No I am from, Ottawa where there is very little magic.” Zeke said not understanding why it matters, but desperate to know why it did, always desperate to understand. “How can I not understand. I am very good at understanding he asserted. “Because, Engineer Zeke, the magic is in me and in the land and in everyone here and you need the magic to know.” Luradin said pitying the engineer. “I know no more of magic than a newborn human baby born in any home nearby. I may have more and have lived longer than any human could understand but I do not know more of how the magic works. I know how to use it but it is just within me.” “But, that is not how anything works. You do not study what you use, you do not question it. No interest in the why at all.” Zeke felt a level of confusion he had never felt before. Information was everything to him and to this being it did not matter. “No, not I maybe someone else has questions these questions you’re questioning. But not I. You may be barking up the wrong fur tree.” Zeke did not know what to do. But he knew he probably could not get much more out of Larudin. He just kind of stood there and stared. Larudin looked at him the pity over taking his face again. They did not know how to appease the engineer or take any interest in it, so they gathered up there cassettes, payed for them, and left. And Zeke just watched them go.
So here he was in a record store and there in front of him was a fae clear as day. The first one he has ever seen and he was elated. Suddenly he was a lot warmer in the cold air of the island. His heart was racing and his cheeks were a flush red.
They were tall and wearing horns and a long leafen cape. They were trying to figure out how to use the music samplers that were dotted along the walls of the store. Hunched over the stack of tapes struggling to open a case and insert it. It was humbling and yet they somehow managed to retain their regality.
Zeke took a deep breath his minding realing thinking of all of the different knowledge he could attain from this fae. He had never met a fae before and was overwhelmed with the possibilities. He Took another deep breath and than a cautious step forward. Another step and another. His whole body shaking, he opened his mouth, “Need a little help.”
“Oh thank the gods, someone that works here.” The fae responded jubilantly. “I cannot seem to get this infernal contraption to make music, but I want to hear it all.”
“Oh I, I, don’t work here but I am an engineer of sorts so I can help you out when it comes to machinery.” Zeke responded taking the tape from the Fae and putting it into the tape deck. “My name is Zeke by the way.”
“Thank you engineer Zeke, my name is Luradin. Now, where does the sound come from.” Luradin inquired.
Zeke handed him the headphones hanging from the wall, “Put these over your ears and hit play.”
Luradin put the headphones on and then looked confused at the center console. Zeke pressed play for him. Zeke than helped the fae listen to cassette after cassette trying to pump any info about the fae world he could out Luradin.
Zeke learned that Luradin got his money from rigging the casino, and that he was so old he barely bothered to count anymore. Most of their conversation was about music and how Luradin loved every genre and artist but he was also incredibly critical. They, were fascinated by the grunge movement that seemed to be everywhere on Cape Breton Island. Luradin talked about there fear of deforestation and how important the trees were to the fae. Which explained why the forests were so plush and you never saw a chainsaw on the island.
Zeke was particularly giddy when Luradin used some light magic to look over a shelf of records that laid in the darker end of the store. Before he knew it Zeke had spent the whole day listening to music with Luradin, only to realize he had only learned a few fragments worth of small talk about how magic and the fae works.
He gussied up a little more courage and asserted himself, “So how does it work?”
“Well, engineer you should no better of this process than I.” Luradin responded. “But I imagine it is either some sort of magic or scientific method in order to trap the music in these little boxes for later replication.”
“No not the tapes, The Magic how does magic work?” Zeke said desperation in his voice. “Where does it come from how do you perform it, why do some people have it and others do not?”
“Oh I see,” Luradin said, taking a deep breath and than a long pause. The loud bustling record shop was suddenly full of an awkward silence. “You are not from the island, are you?”
“No, I’m not, I have only been here for a few months, why?” Zeke responded defeat over taking his voice.
“Than you can never understand, unless you are from another place rich in magic. Are you from another place rich in magic?” Luradin raised an eyebrow.
“No I am from, Ottawa where there is very little magic.” Zeke said not understanding why it matters, but desperate to know why it did, always desperate to understand. “How can I not understand. I am very good at understanding he asserted.
“Because, Engineer Zeke, the magic is in me and in the land and in everyone here and you need the magic to know.” Luradin said pitying the engineer. “I know no more of magic than a newborn human baby born in any home nearby. I may have more and have lived longer than any human could understand but I do not know more of how the magic works. I know how to use it but it is just within me.”
“But, that is not how anything works. You do not study what you use, you do not question it. No interest in the why at all.” Zeke felt a level of confusion he had never felt before. Information was everything to him and to this being it did not matter.
“No, not I maybe someone else has questions these questions you’re questioning. But not I. You may be barking up the wrong fur tree.”
Zeke did not know what to do. But he knew he probably could not get much more out of Larudin. He just kind of stood there and stared. Larudin looked at him the pity over taking his face again. They did not know how to appease the engineer or take any interest in it, so they gathered up there cassettes, payed for them, and left. And Zeke just watched them go.